10 Clan War Tips for Clash of Clans

Tips

Attack Bottom to TopLetting lower members attack first allows higher members to clean up for them if necessary, or conserve and use their attacks for their own levels. Fighting this way allows you to maximize stars earned by ensuring easy stars are gained, and allows for extra attacks when lower level allies 3 star their targets.

Be Smart About CC TroopsPoison can kill most small units, but units like Valkyries and Dragons have splash attacks and will not die to poison, making them dangerous when they come out to fight.However, they are easier to pull as units come out 1 by 1. Difficult to pull CCs can cause the enemy to waste more and more units to pull, or give up entirely.Additionally, many archers with a few wizards at the end can be a strong strategy for difficult to reach CCs. People may miscount and think they've pulled because of all the archers, or be unable to pull all of them due to how slow they exit the CC.

Vary Your BasesEnsure your team members have based designed for various types of attacks so the opponents can't just toss any 1 strategy and succeed. This may mean having team members prioritize defenses differently, but this can drastically trip up clans that can't adapt.

Build Your Base to Your LocationTeam members in the bottom ranks should be building a base to prevent 3 star attacks, not prevent a town hall kill. This may mean prioritizing strategies such as unpullable CCs, buildings in the corners, or town hall traps (easy to reach town hall but surrounds them with defenses, making it difficult to get further).

Build Your Base to Your TH's Dominant StrategiesObvious, but build to defend the strategies that are popular. For example, in TH9 "gopwipe" (Golems, Wizards, Pekkas) is popular so most people keep Teslas around their TH to defend against the pekkas. Hog attacks are strong in TH8, so ensure you have a double bomb. Do a quick search for popular attacks or pay attention to what is working on you and your allies.

Mind Your UpgradesNo one knows the magic formula for how Supercell does match making, but most theories suggest various defenses have weights for how much they count towards match making. Defenses that are splash damage (Mortars, Wizard Towers) or key defenses (Crossbows, Inferno Towers) weight higher than other defenses. Rushing crossbows at TH9 while ignoring your other units may put you at a slight disadvantage against someone who spread their upgrades. Similarly, if you rush mortars your weighting will go higher, but mortars are not effective against a gowipe attack, so you may place more highly but not be more effective.Additionally, in early 2015 Supercell added extra weighting to walls and heroes, so don't over-invest in walls! Particularly as a TH8 when dominant strategies (Hogs and Dragons) ignore walls.

Sneaky StoragesMost people don't pay much attention to storages during war, but they have a lot of HP. They can make a great bait. Consider the base below; many people would believe Dragons would be great against this TH8 base (Nevermind the TH9) but if dragons are dropped on the corners, they'll get stuck on storages and go down the side. If enemies use hogs to try to kill one of the anti-air defenses, the traps will stop them. Same for balloons. This base often gave up 2 stars, but was a difficult 3 star.

Attack EarlyEarly attacks can demoralize your opponent, if you attack immediately when the war starts, you can discourage them and potentially cause them to give up.

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8. Count The StarsTake a realistic assessment mid-way through the war to see where each team has to perform to win. Usually you'll have a chance to win and you'll find out how by totaling it all up. Sometimes, it will be hopeless and it may mean you should throw in the towel and avoid the wasted resources.

9. Mind Your UpgradesNo one knows the magic formula for how Supercell does match making, but most theories suggest various defenses have weights for how much they count towards match making. Defenses that are splash damage (Mortars, Wizard Towers) or key defenses (Crossbows, Inferno Towers) weight higher than other defenses. Rushing crossbows at TH9 while ignoring your other units may put you at a slight disadvantage against someone who spread their upgrades. Similarly, if you rush mortars your weighting will go higher, but mortars are not effective against a gowipe attack, so you may place more highly but not be more effective.Additionally, in early 2015 Supercell added extra weighting to walls and heroes, so don't over-invest in walls! Particularly as a TH8 when dominant strategies (Hogs and Dragons) ignore walls.

How enemies are breaking your defenses, and how you can make minor adjustments (traps) or major adjustments (new base) to counter it.

Effectiveness of various attacks against various bases

11. Here's an extra! Be Kind and Reasonable with Donations.Burning too many resources on attacks will not only be devastating if you lose, but can often render a win a break-even situation for top donors. It's expensive to donate level 5 golems or level 2 witches! Be mindful and don't just ask for the strongest around, ask for what you need to 3 star.

War is most beneficial when you also minimize resources spent, be mindful of that. As a rule of thumb, don't request something 2+ levels above what you have, you shouldn't need it, except for drastic situations.